With almost 30 years of memories to pull from, “The Young and Restless’” Tracey E. Bregman (Lauren Fenmore) can’t be forced to name her favorite “Y&R” moment. Because, as she so aptly puts it, “There have been so many!” But as she celebrates being back on contract with the show (something she’s been on again/off again since she started back in 1983), she’s thrilled to be playing out what she thinks is one of Lauren’s greatest story arcs yet.

“The whole storyline with Michael [Baldwin, Christian Jules LeBlanc], I would have to say, in the last six months, has been extraordinary,” she says. “It is so good.”

Bradford Rogne Photography

And who can blame her for thinking so? Lauren and Michael’s relationship has always been rocky, but their most recent hurdles have been some of the couple’s toughest challenges yet. “I’m loving that they’re giving us emotional richness,” Bregman says of the arc that has included Marco Dapper’s Carmine Bosco. “I know that the audience is having trouble with the cheating aspect of it, but in the beginning, it really did split people as to who was right and who was wrong, which I loved. And I love that they’re shaking us up, because then the audience can start cheering for, ‘How do we make it back? How do we get back together? Is it possible?’”

Time will tell whether Michael and Lauren will work through their problems, but either way, Bregman couldn’t be happier that the 40-year old show is getting back to basics: Love and romance! “We needed to get back to the relationships, and we have,” she says. “And the show is so much stronger for it.”